I woke up Wednesday morning in Dohuk and prepped for a day exploring. There is very little information for travelers in Kurdistan and so I didn’t have a really have a game plan. See where the wind takes me was the baseline strategy. Sitting in the hotel reception there was another foreigner. We got to talking and ended up spending the day together checking out villages in the countryside. The only real transport options in Kurdistan are shared taxis so having a buddy to share costs is a great bonus to help manage costs. The following day we drove from Dohuk to Erbil; Iraqi Kurdistan’s biggest city. After settling into a hotel, we set out to explore the city’s main attraction, the Citadel – a fort-like castle at the heart of the desert city. We wandered around and followed a guided tourist group into a restricted section of the site. Entrance offered some neat views over the city – helpful in orienting ourselves. Before we entered, we were approached by two young locals. The teenagers were visiting from Baghdad and were eager to chat. They spoke excellent English, complete with euphemisms and all. We ended up spending the evening cruising the citadel, the bazaar and some parks with these two in tow. I will admit that I wasn’t so keen on entertaining them at first, but in the end I really their company. They spoke of the unrest in Arab Iraq (including Baghdad), the rampant religious persecution of non-Sunni Muslim minorities and their desire to emigrate from Iraq. The topic of emigration maybe shouldn’t come as a big surprise. I think anyone would choose the peaceful streets of Vancouver over the turmoil of Baghdad. Of note though, it seemed more genuine and serious during my interactions in Iraq than I had experienced in other parts of the world. Listening to them, their respective desires to leave Iraq was underpinned by a lack of pride in their country. This fact caused me to stop and think. During past travel adventures, I have grown accustomed to the local people’s fierce pride in their country irrespective of their situation. Sure, they might be critical at about the government or certain policies, but in general most people I have met, not matter how poor or rich, powerful or fringe, are happy to identify as a Thai, Guatemalan, Moroccan, Nepalese, etc. Even people who have emigrated to Europe or North American tend to retain a sense of pride in their birthplace. Neither of these two were proud to be Iraqi. I found this tough to grasp. Iraq is the cradle of civilizations. It is blessed by the legendary Tigris and Euphrates rivers that nourished Mesopotamia. Indeed, archeological remnants cement this region’s crucial role in the history of human evolution. They conceded that this was cool, but not enough for them. It took some convincing, but by the evening I accepted their position. Maybe if I witnessed murders in the streets on a monthly basis I wouldn’t be overly intrigued with my homelands ancient claims to fame either… The evening reinforced how fortunate I am to be Canadian and live in a peaceful nation. At the end of the evening, finding a beer to sip was next to impossible so we had a different type of night cap - barbequed sheep testicle. The boys weren’t too keen, but eventually each of us choked at least one portion down.

I entered Iraq from Turkey overland. The border crossing was fairly smooth. The border guards struggled to find my name on my passport and understand why I was visiting their country, but otherwise I had no issues. The minivan that I had paid 20 Turkish Lira (11 USD) to take me across the border deposited me in the border town on the Iraq side. Border towns the world over are shitholes. Zakho was no different. I was eager to get out. Moving on to my planned destination for the night, Duhko, a town about forty minutes drive from the border, would require patience. The mini-van that took me across the border served a similar function to that of a shark cage in the open ocean. On the street I was fresh meat. After some rapid Arabic and standing my ground amongst a dozen swarthy looking men, they began to grasp I wasn’t willing to hop in the next form of transport they offered me at an exhorborent price. Eventually I would make it to Duhko, just as the sun was setting. I was pleased. There were some intense moments that afternoon, but I never felt that my personal safety was in jeopardy – only that I would be out a few more dollars then I needed to be. Lying in bed that evening, exhausted from my 2:30 AM wake up that morning and a solid day of traveling I thought about the afternoon’s interactions. The situations I encountered certainly pushed my comfort zone. Not because I had never experienced anything similar, but because I hadn’t experienced anything like it recently and rarely were I had been moving around solo. I dozed off quickly with a smile on my face. In many ways I felt that I had been preparing for that afternoon’s interactions for my entire life. After years of traveling with my family, and exploring destinations with better tourist infrastructure, I had set out on this trip; a challenging one. I have developed a decent toolkit to help me navigate these situations. I am stoked to apply some tools and expand the box. Overall, I was very pleased with the start of my time in Iraq and excited to find out what tomorrow will bring.